djs wrote:

I have a BeoCenter 2 which has n.music and n.radio.  Although I have had the BC2 for some years, I have no idea what n.music and n.radio are.  

Can someone enlighten me?

Net-Music and Net-Radio were B&O's early answer to internet digital music.

This was implemented via a black box attached to the master link and to a personal computer that stored the music (an MP3 library) and gave access to the internet for pulling music being streamed by internet radio stations.

The solution went through various iterations of black boxes.

The most recent has been the "BeoPort".

B&O provided windows software to "talk" to the black box - a sample of the interface can be experienced by downloading their "BeoPlayer" software.

For Apple personal computer users B&O arranged for "BMLink" to be written.

And more recently PhilLondon of Beoworld produce LinkPlayer.

Hope this helps as an introduction ..........

Thanks Elephant.  I was hoping it may be to do with internet based music.  

Although I have a Playmaker, I find it too unreliable in terms of drop-outs.   I am looking to find a solution to having music stored digitally and played through the BC2.  My preference would be to have a NAS drive attached to the BC2.

Is this possible?  If so, any advice as how to best achieve such a solution would be welcomed.

djs 

djs wrote:

Thanks Elephant.  I was hoping it may be to do with internet based music.  

Although I have a Playmaker, I find it too unreliable in terms of drop-outs.   I am looking to find a solution to having music stored digitally and played through the BC2.  My preference would be to have a NAS drive attached to the BC2.

Is this possible?  If so, any advice as how to best achieve such a solution would be welcomed.

djs 

well the BeoPort does have the advantage of needing wires -- more than one in fact!  The diagrams posted below show the BeoPort and its connectivity.  And as you will infer, the "NAS" is in fact your personal computer and its disk drive(s).  I use a MacMini with two external Maxtor drives. 

The hesitation I have in providing you advice, is that we are talking about an old solution - great at the time, and with PhilLondon's beta programming something that showed potential.  However Philippe abandoned that work in 2012 and so we have what is an aged system that is not user friendly when used  with large music libraries (basically no visual feedback).  I use an iPad running the Apple "Remote" App to control the iTunes library on the MacMini

This is where the DLNA protocols and devices are better in being able to explore what is on a NAS.

It is a pity you are getting drop-outs - however I had a similar problem with my equally old solution, the BeoLink Wireless 1.  I simply preserved change the position of devices and aerials and I found the sweet spot where there was solid uninterrupted transmissions.

So if you still have the PlayMaker, and you have a large library of MP3s, then I would keep trying.

The BeoPort and how it connects to your Beocentre/Beosound using the Master Link wiring:

The back of the BeoPort showing the connection details.  The USB connection is required so that Beo4 commands are relayed from the Beocentre/Beosound through the Master Link to the BeoPort and then to the software on the personal computer.

The audio jack is obvious 🙂 but as you can see you are also able to use this to attach Power Link active speakers to your PC (via the BeoPort) and also have Beo4 commands received in the room where the BeoPort and PC are (via the IR eye - which is not a standard one BTW - it is a specific BeoPort one).

Wow. Thank you for such a detailed reply.  Thinking about the possibilities, if I were to remove the BC2 from my set up, could I store music on a mac-mini and feed it through the Playmaker using the Apple remote app to my speakers?(BL3s and Bl11)  This assumes all devices are cabled, rather than using wi-fi.

djs

djs wrote:

Wow. Thank you for such a detailed reply. Thinking about the possibilities, if I were to remove the BC2 from my set up, could I store music on a mac-mini and feed it through the Playmaker using the Apple remote app to my speakers?(BL3s and Bl11) This assumes all devices are cabled, rather than using wi-fi.

djs

Please be patient with my technophobia.  To answer your questions...

Currently I have my music stored on my Apple laptop in iTunes in lossless format.

I have not played with the Apple remote app at this stage.

I bought the Playmaker to give me a solution where I could play music without the need of my 1000 or so CDs. I'm in a small flat now and would like to reclaim the storage space that the CDs take up. I was hopeful when the Playmaker was released. Unfortunately, the Playmaker suffers constant drop-outs when using wi-fi.  I do have an Apple TV which functions perfectly, so the drop-out fault is not entirely with the router. 

My preference would be to have music stored digitally on a device hidden in a cabinet near my speakers.  I would prefer for it to be cabled rather than wireless too. Do I understand correctly that the Playmaker would then act as a DAC feeding the stored music to my speakers?  I assume I would then need an app to act as a remote control to play, stop, pause and act as a volume control for the music?  At this stage I don't have a NAS, so was thinking that a mac mini could do that job and give me the iTunes interface that I am used to via the Apple remote app.  Am I on the right track?

I should add that although I know B&O offer a solution (BS5), it is not a device I particularly like.

Thank you for your time.  I appreciate the advice.

djs

djs wrote:

Please be patient with my technophobia. To answer your questions...

Currently I have my music stored on my Apple laptop in iTunes in lossless format.

I have not played with the Apple remote app at this stage.

I bought the Playmaker to give me a solution where I could play music without the need of my 1000 or so CDs. I'm in a small flat now and would like to reclaim the storage space that the CDs take up. I was hopeful when the Playmaker was released. Unfortunately, the Playmaker suffers constant drop-outs when using wi-fi. I do have an Apple TV which functions perfectly, so the drop-out fault is not entirely with the router.

My preference would be to have music stored digitally on a device hidden in a cabinet near my speakers. I would prefer for it to be cabled rather than wireless too. Do I understand correctly that the Playmaker would then act as a DAC feeding the stored music to my speakers? I assume I would then need an app to act as a remote control to play, stop, pause and act as a volume control for the music? At this stage I don't have a NAS, so was thinking that a mac mini could do that job and give me the iTunes interface that I am used to via the Apple remote app. Am I on the right track?

I should add that although I know B&O offer a solution (BS5), it is not a device I particularly like.

Thank you for your time. I appreciate the advice.

djs